


Drop After Drop (There Will Be An Ocean)

by yaodai



Category: Naruto
Genre: Gen, Jiraiya has trouble with comprehending this mess, Sarada is trying very hard to do things right, but orochimaru is a master of slipping through the cracks, career nanny orochimaru, certain security measures do exist, for the lulz mostly, orochimaru is here to wreck shit up, time-travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-21
Updated: 2018-03-15
Packaged: 2019-01-03 18:33:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12152409
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yaodai/pseuds/yaodai
Summary: The aliens attacked much earlier than the shinobi expected them to. Too keep their children safe, they decided to send them back to the safer times with the only person who had both brain and resources to keep them safe from the suspicious ninja from previous generations.Only Orochimaru never cared much for repeating past mistakes and promptly decided to wreck things up.





	1. The Case Of (un)Doubtful Parentage

**Chapter One: The Case Of (un)Doubtful Parentage**

 

Gallant Jiraiya, the Toad Sannin and the master of spymasters was observing his target, paying attention to even the smallest of details.  
Details were very important in his line of work and that particular set of freckles was definitely worth every second of his attention.  
Of course, as a well trained ninja, Jiraiya was also perfectly able to paying attention to his surroundings.

Because of that, he didn't jump when there was sudden movement right behind him and pebbles shifted under heavily armored boots. The things looked like someone either was wa wannabe samurai or managed to rob one and shoes were one of the things he took. Odd, since they looked heavy, uncomfortable and the reddish metal was already covered in scratches and bumps, along with something that looked almost like a burn mark.

Jiraiya frowned at the boots. This was a bathhouse for goodness sake, who would simply walk in here still wearing dirty things like that?  
Whoever it was, had no manners at all.

Jiraiya decided to ignore the awful intruder and tried to concentrate on what he came here to do, but the newcomer had none of it.

"You are the Toad Sage," the stranger said, or rather, stated a fact. Definitely male, quite young considering the sound of his voice and for some reason very, very annoyed.

Well, Jiraiya though. That's what you get when you visit an onsen and stare at an old farts instead of some nice, lively ladies.

Carefully adjusting his telescope - a work of art, truly, one could see at great distances without wasting any chakra and not risking being detected by any sensor type that happened to be a nearby, his absolute favorite to gathering materials in shinobi villages - Jiraiya hoped that he made his point.

He was just so not interested in whatever the bugger had to tell him.  
The lack of reaction did nothing to shoo away the intruder. Apparently, the boy was especially dense.

"You need to talk with my parent," the young man stated all of sudden, voice more bored than annoyed.

Ooh. So he was one of these, Jiraiya thought and sighed heavily.

Being a living legend, while all fancy and being a reason for lots of free drinks, respect and bed warmed by pretty ladies, had also an unpleasant effect of attracting orphans.  
All the poor bastards, lonely kid without roots and some crazy young people deep in denial were gravitating towards people like him like a moth towards a flame. As if having a father, even an accidental one, who managed to build a reputation for himself would instantly change their life into something much better.

"Listen," Jiraiya ran a hand through his hair with a heavy groan. This wasn’t the first or even tenth delusional brat that approached him. It didn’t change the fact that the whole situation was both annoying and mildly disturbing at the same time.

"I know I have a certain reputation, but I assure you, I always make sure to do things safe and-"

"I'm quite certain of my parentage," the young man cut him out. "What I need is for you to follow me and meet my parent."

"Why would I want to do such a thing?!" finally, Jiraiya was done with it. He furiously turned around, killing intent raising along with his blood pressure.

"I don't know who you are!"

What he meet was an indifferent glare of cold, yellow eyes and a perfectly blank face.

The youth was a bit higher than Jiraiya expected him to be, a bit wider in the shoulders, though it could be that ridiculous, red armor creating an illusion about his size.  
The last time Jiraiya saw an armor like that on an actual person rather than stuffed in some corner of a room as a decoration was around the time he wasn’t even a genin. Why someone decided to wear thing that was so old was a bit beyond him. A fashion statement, maybe? A way to look more dignified, or something like that? He truly had no idea.

Jiraiya was to talk some more at the brat. He really wanted to, because things were boiling inside of him and Jiraiya didn't like them to act like that when there was no need. Surely, there was no reason to bite his tongue when dealing with some random kid who came to him like he owned the place.

Said brat was still looking down at him, his stance nothing like one of a warrior; all the weight of the body held on one leg, while the other was slightly bend at the knee. He had wrapped one arm around his waist, while his chin was resting on the wrist of the other...

Several thoughts hit Jiraiya at once, all of them too warped to be a genjutsu, so he didn't even try to go for the hand-sign.

"No way," he gasped, as if his denying the truth hard enough would make the reality feel shame and cause it to change into something that actually made sense. "No. Just no. No. "

"I see you are able to understand now," the young man said. "Now, follow me."

Jiraiya furrowed his brow. The unholy abomination in front of him looked like a young adult or at the very least late teen. It meant the bastard got some while still wearing Konoha hitai-ate and never said anything!

He swallowed the frustration, or at the very least tried to.  
It was ridiculous, but Jiraiya felt betrayed all over again.

"So," he started, standing up  and brushing his hair aside. There was research and spying and priorities and then there was his former teammate. "What does Orochimaru wants with me?"

"To talk," was his, very short, answer.

Jiraiya huffed. "The bastard could show up for that one on his own."

Orochimaru's son glanced at him, clearly unamused, with one eyebrow slightly raised. It seemed that compared to the snake bastard, the kid was lacking in the  face expression department. The emotions were almost non-existent. Which could be a good thing, because uh, ninja, but also could be bad, because training someone out of it was… Not something he Jiraiya wanted to see happening to any kid, no matter the parentage.

"There are many things going on and not enough time to waste it," came the non-explanation.

Well.

Orochimaru was putting together his own Hidden Village just to spite the Leaf and it wasn't a very difficult information to obtain. For one, it was clearly noticeable, talking up the nobles and searching for funds to put things together and Jiraiya always followed actions of his old teammates anyway. Just because.

Still, it stung a bit, that when finally deciding to reach out - or whatever it was Orochimaru was doing - instead of showing up himself, Orochimaru send a messenger and ordered Jiraiya to follow him. Just what was he, a dog?!

With a single gesture, Jiraiya let the kid lead the way.  
They walked out of the spring and Jiraiya braced himself for screams and stuff, because things like walking into the water in full body armor definitely deserved it, but nothing came.  
The lady who usually guarded the entrance and who definitely was a kunoichi in  the past merely blinked at them and exchanged a few words with the kid.

"No, sorry" he said, perfectly calm. "We don't have time for the bath right now. Maybe some other day."

Jiraiya blinked, because just what the hell. He spend at least fifteen minutes flirting this chick up and now she was acting like she never saw him before? It was clearly not a genjutsu obscuring his face, it would be easy to notice all the chakra floating around, creating the illusion.

Well, chakra was still there, just much more subtle, more like a subtle brush of wind than a distortion crafted right into the air.

"You sure have interesting tricks up your sleeve," Jiraiya smirked. "But are you sure you should show them off just like that?"

Cold, yellow eyes zeroed right at his face, unblinking and emotionless. The purple markings around his eyes were much more subtle than the ones on Orochimaru's face, mostly hidden behind the eyelashes, but nonetheless, they were there.

"Are you sure you are going to remember it?" was the answer.

What a cheeky, cheeky brat!

Honestly, Jiraiya was impressed, though he wasn't sure if it was because of the steel balls this brat had or because he managed to be such a little shit despite being raised by Orochimaru. If anything, Jiraiya would expect someone more like a ROOT agent, an obedient, silent weapon wearing human skin.

"What's your name anyway?"

"Rogu."

"That's an... odd name."

"I've named myself."

Jiraiya blinked at that statement. "Huh?"

"Orochimaru is shit at naming things and should not be allowed to do so," Rogu added, his voice as deadpan as it was since he showed up.

"You don't sound like his biggest fan."

"I'm not."

"Then why are you working for him?"

"I'm not."

Jiraiya raised an eyebrow. From where he was standing, it looked quite the opposite.

"I've found that we share a common goal," Rogu decided to explain further. "I'm not working for Orochimaru, I'm working with Orochimaru."

"A fairly subtle difference," Jiraiya noted.

Rogu pouted and holy shit, the expression looked really familiar.

"So, that special skill of yours... I really want to borrow you from time to time," Jiraiya quickly distracted himself from thinking too much.

"No."

"Why are you so cold?" Jiraiya whined. "A young man like you would surely like an adventure, to see the sights and-"

"I'm not going to ogle women in the bathhouses.”

"There are other places," he tempted Rogu with a chuckle and then ended up torn between laughing out and cursing himself.   
The face expressions of his were way too familiar for comfort.


	2. Chapter 2: A Cup Of Rice

**Chapter 2: A Cup Of Rice**

 

Jiraiya wasn't sure what he was expecting.

Travelling with Rogu was a bit like travelling with Orochimaru himself but also not.  
He was similarly standoffish and prone to snide commentary whenever there was a chance to do so. He also preferred bloody walking over anything else, which made the whole travel ridiculously long compared to what it could be if they jumped up into the branches and moved like shinobi were supposed to.

“Weren't we in hurry?” Jiraiya found himself asking after the novelty of the situation passed. “I was sure we were in hurry!”

The only answer was a click of the lighter as Rogu pulled yet another cigarette. Damn brat smoked like an old marine, filling the air with the bitter scent of tobacco.

Jiraiya winced.  
He was sure his hair were soaked and will continue to reek even after washing it all thoroughly. Same with the clothes.  
It was yet another thing that was anything but what a shinobi was supposed to do; strong smells, leaving a trail of ashes and cigarette buds… it was almost like the kid was doing a checklist of everything he wasn't supposed to do.

“I like walking,” Rogu said as if it was explaining everything.

“And your parents is not minding the snail pace?” To tell the truth, Orochimaru also preferred the snail pace of walking. The fact that he somehow always managed to show up right on time was only making the whole thing more infuriating.   
Sure, Jiraiya was mostly sticking to the roads too, especially when there was a band of travelers to talk to; his job was all about talking, interacting, seeing and understanding. But when there were no people around it was usually a time to rush forward, to the next city, to the next village... and they were not doing that. For some reason.  

Yellow eyes glanced at him, familiar but not, with a mix of amusement and indifference.

“It is a great way to observe things,” he said. “ Up there, in the branches, nothing much to see.”

“I think that's just a case of shitty training.”

“Do you even know what I'm looking at?”

“...me?” Because figuring out a stranger you were forced to travel with made some sense. Pushing him into feeling annoyance and confusion, pulling the rug from under their feet to see how they act surprised and out of their water.

“Aren’t you a bit too self-centered?”

“You've went and hunted me down from whatever hole Orochimaru is hiding,” Jiraiya shrugged. “Sounds like I'm needed.”

Rogu merely smirked instead of giving him a verbal answer.

Blasted brat!

If Jiraiya could only figure out what else Rogu was observing, it would be easier to ignore. But like that, with a secret straight out denied? It was pure suffering.

 

xxx

 

During his travels, Jiraiya chased down any information he could possibly find about his former teammate currently traitor. Even if it appeared to be utterly silly, even if it was months old, Jiraiya still carefully made note of every single thing, trying to build an image that could explain if not the "why", then at least point him"where".

He traveled all through the Fire Country, picking bits and pieces of information and wandered through the sands and open spaces dotted with wild flowers that were the Wind territory.  
He doubted that Orochimaru would enter the land of Rain out of his own free will, but he checked that one anyway; it was even more miserable than he remembered, cold and wet, like the sky didn't know what else to do but cry.  
He passed the warmer land of Grass, even if avoiding the paranoid, obsessive shinobi there was annoying and visited the cold land of Snow.

When Rogu showed up, Jiraiya started to consider going even further, far far away, just to see if Orochimaru didn't decide to simply check where the world was ending.  
And the mystery was finally unraveling.

"The Country of Rice Paddies?" he asked, recognizing the mountain site far on their east. If they were a bit higher, they probably could see the river that erupted into a waterfall, falling right between two monumental statues. "That's a bit unexpected."

It wasn't as cold and miserable like the Lands of Snow and Rain were so it was a more plausible hidey-hole for the old snake, but still.

The sole cheek of it!

This country was on the very border of the Land of Fire, right on the other side of the Valley of the End. It was bloody ridiculous, to settle right on the border when you were running for your life.  
Then again, it was Orochimaru. He was doing things just to prove he could.

Still, this country didn't fit the mental image Jiraiya had created for Orochimaru. This land was poor and miserable, torn more by the noble family being in conflict with each other rather than anything Orochimaru would find even vaguely interesting.

"Yes," Rogu replied shortly.

That explained little to nothing about the reason behind picking this location out of all the other options, so Jiraiya grit his teeth and continued with the conversation.

"Why here?" he asked.

"Because it's unexpected," Rogu smirked. It looked almost like he was planning out pulling out yet another cigarette but stopped himself.

It was so very nice of him, to not smoke in the middle of sharing a diner with someone.

It was just some rice cooked up in metal cups - undercooked and hard in the middle and burned on the side, Jiraiya was in his forties and still didn't make much progress when it came to cooking, he always preferred to stop in a nice tavern, onsen or even in a hut in some village, exchanging the night of good sleep and a meal for some menial D-Rank task - next to a bonfire and some striped of dried meat Jiraiya couldn't quite identify; it tasted like salt and smoke. Still, the food deserved some respect.

"That's not enough of a reason." Even for a petty bastard like Orochimaru it was a bit much.

Besides, what possibly could he doing in a poor dump like this country? There weren't even shinobi to kidnap and experiment on here if Orochimaru was still up to his old game. Back during the Second Shinobi War, when the three tiny countries weren't united yet, Sasori of the Red Sands made sure of it, killing everyone in the local shinobi village and probably some cities nearby.

Since then, it all went downhill.  
The tiny countries weren't rich to begin with and losing the only local shinobi village made the place a bandit hot-spot; there was not enough money to hire foreign shinobi.  
In a desperate attempt to save something, the countries united - there was quite a lot of intrigues, marriages and stuff going on with all these nobles, stuff Jiraiya had no time to snoop around during the war which was a shame because it would serve as a great plot for one of his books! - but it didn't help much.

It just kept the dirt-poor land from sinking. Compared to the rest of the world, even the land of Rain was slowly crawling back to resemble something habitable for humans.

"There was a change in the court lately," Rogu added, digging through his cup of rice but not actually eating much of it.

"Right, I've heard there's a new Daimyo around here," Jiraiya muttered.

The nobles, they had a certain thing for assassinating each other and their own family members.  
Well, usually they were not doing it on their own - while hiring shinobi from their own hidden village was seen as a rather bad thing to do - since the same shinobi were hired to protect the nobles from being assassinated.  
So, it was either someone pulling a lot of pocket money to hire someone from far away. Either that or a missing-nin was asked for a favor in exchange getting-

"Was Orochimaru involved in killing the previous Daimyo?"

"My parent likes the new Daimyo better," Rogu said with a shrug.

So Orochimaru was involved in the coup after all, Jiraiya mused.  
That meant that he won himself a favor, which meant that he managed to secure a fairly comfy life for himself.

"So, we're going to the uh, the capitol?" Jiraiya scratched his head. Because of the history of the land, there were about five or six different places popping into his mind, none of them feeling exactly right. Damn, he needed to brush up on this and that because he was feeling embarrassed.

"What for?" Rogu blinked.

"Well, since you're dragging me all the way to meet Orochimaru and since he's all chubby with the new boss right now..." Jiraiya explained.

Rogu eyebrows first popped up and then furrowed in annoyance.

"Despite the rumors, I'm pretty sure my parent didn't visit Daimyo's bedroom," he said.

Wait, Jiraiya thought as his eyes widened. There were rumors about Orochimaru banging someone and he missed it? That was probably one of his greatest failures as a spy!

"You're only pretty sure?" he snickered, covering up his inner turmoil.

Rogu made a face. The sour expression explained everything much better than any words would be able to.

Jiraiya dug the rest of the rice out of his cup - kind of on the cold side right now and stuck together in small clumps - and chewed.

It bought him time to wrap his head about the whole situation: he made sure he had the conversation, the very gits of it, memorized. Then he tried to analyze the situation, adding what he knew.

The new Daimyo definitely had his seat secured having a ridiculously powerful missing-nin in his shadow, ready to stab anyone who dared to even think about competing for the throne. Honestly they were so convenient for each other, it wasn't surprising there were whispers about bedroom popping up.

"So, if we're not visiting the court... what did Orochimaru get out of the deal?"

The smile that spreaded on Rogu's lips  made him regret asking.

 

xxx

 

In the hindsight, it wasn't that hard to connect all the pieces and come up with something that was pretty close to the reality.  
On the other hand, said reality was a really distorted thing, like Orochimaru took an idea, smashed it into pieces, gave it a good shake and then glued the results, calling it a job well done.

First of all, a hidden village was supposed to be, well, a village. Some sort of a city or at the very least a few buildings in vaguely close proximity to each other. Not... this.

A set of outposts hidden all over the country, each one of them working pretty much independent from each other.  
How was that even supposed to work? Was Orochimaru constantly travelling between them, just to quickly tell people what they were supposed to do now? How was he dealing with handing out the missions? How the people knew where to go when they wanted to order a mission?

Jiraiya shook his head. This was neither the time nor place to think about all the little details; time for that would come up much, much later, during writing a report - probably a long set of reports - for the Hokage.

The outpost they were heading for was placed on a small island in the middle of a lake. This far north in the late fall, the air already had a salty bite to it and the water surface beneath their feet cracked and crunched with every step they took, the paper-thin ice  unable to withstand their weight. It made walking on water feel surreal.

The building itself looked out. the outside walls were darkened with age and touched by the elements, with green and blue moss growing on the walls and hanging off the edges in long, messy strands.  
It looked vaguely familiar, sort of like the stuff both Orochimaru and Tsunade used to collect, grind and whatever else they could think of.

The other edge of the island, placed mildly higher than the one they walked up was appearing to be more rocky and covered with bushes that looked red from afar, but as they got closer, Jiraiya could tell apart tangled, thin twigs and small leaves, which meant than all that red was just a mess of tiny fruits.

"That's surprisingly nice view," Jiraiya commented, looking around. "Honestly, I was expecting something more... grim?"

"I'm sure there's a place like that somewhere," Rogu said. he didn't look like he was joking, then again, the annoying poker face was apparently passed on, because Jiraiya just couldn't tell.

On the other hand, it probably was much, much worse on the inside. It was after all an old stone building set in the middle of a lake. By all means, it should be wet, moldy and absolutely, utterly cold on the inside.  
It was not.  
The air inside was pleasantly warm and filled with a vague hits of wax, incense, the walls were dry and clean, covered with a subtle, but complicated set of lines, that under further investigation looked almost like-

"Is that an Uzumaki seal?"

"I think so?" Rogu shrugged. "This place predates the Hidden Villages quite a lot. I think someone hired an Uzumaki shinobi or a few to make the place doesn't fall apart due to all the water seeping through the ground."

"So, it was a civilian place?" Jiraiya asked, taking a second look around. Middle of a lake wasn't a very civilian-friendly location; the logistic was hell since no one was able to walk on the water. On the other hand, it made any attack on the place to be much, much trickier... and it seemed to be old enough to remember the times where war was seemingly the natural state of the world.

"I think so. There was a bridge, but it  fell apart long before my parent decided to use this place."

So, Orochimaru decided to stroke his own ego and move into a bloody castle. A small one, true, and most of the space was just narrow corridors that twisted and turned every few steps.  
It was probably to keep the heat from escaping, but Jiraiya couldn't help but feel a bit paranoid. Almost no visibility whatsoever, little to no place to maneuver and use any decently powerful jutsu without risking bringing the whole place down on his own head.

The fact that there was no visible blood anywhere, any traces of desperate battle or painful moaning coming from hidden rooms - and there were hidden rooms around here, the nobles were obsessed with that stuff for some odd reason - was not actually making feel Jiraiya better.

A secret lab with gruesome experiments would at least be a familiar territory. He spend so much time getting ready for that confrontation, making up scenario after scenario in his mind, planning even the smallest little thing.  
However this, this was a completely unfamiliar ground, something so unexpected it feel like his brain got wrapped with a thick layer of wool and it was difficult to even put a coherent sentence together.  
He should be glad.

He should be happy that his old, traitorous friend somehow crawled back from the depths of madness, that he wasn't hurting people - and what a weird thought it was; they were shinobi, they lived from hurting people - but he wasn't because he had no idea how to deal with that.

Jiraiya closed his eyes and took a deep breath.  
He wasn't a child to panic like that, he was able to talk his way out of many many messes and this wasn't any different.  
Just more personal, with a scenario that got switched on him in the very last moment.

"You look nervous," Rogu noted, eyeing him from the side.

"It's just not something I've expected," Jiraiya laughed it off. It didn't sound very natural to his own ears, but the kid already knew he was shamelessly lying anyway.

They've stopped in front of doors, big and heavy two-winged thing with an elaborate, pretty but completely useless metal lock. It still smelled a bit like fresh paint - deep blue to the point it looked pretentious - same as the thick line of ink markings almost invisible at the edge of the doorframe; Jiraiya wouldn't even notice them if he didn't look up.  
He swallowed, fighting off the need to crawl up the wall to get a closer look.

"And you got me losing a bet," Rogu muttered.

"I'm not exactly sorry, where can I get my share?" Jiraiya immediately replied, mouth running before his brain even noticed that something was going on.

His only answer was a dirty glare.

"Well, it looks like someone had to work a bit to turn this place around," Jiraiya decided to change the topic and amuse himself with imagining Orochimaru painting the doors himself.  
He hadn't seen that since they were Genin and that happened only once because nobody dared to hire the team under the Hokage to do any of the fun jobs. 

"The seals were damaged," Rogu explained the thing Jiraiya was actually not thinking about.

"I bet figuring them out and not blowing up this joint took awhile," Jiraiya nodded, still 

"Maybe you will be allowed to get a closer look," Rogu smiled and then passed him by, pushing the doors open.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, uh, okay.  
> It took awhile. Sorry about that!  
> I just couldn't decide how to deal with this fic - would it look better as a series of episodic stories? Something more traditional but with the POV swapping with every chapter? Or maybe cut it into arcs, so the jumping between the characters is reduced and not as chaotic?  
> Long story short having too many options is a bad thing :P
> 
> Next chapter: Jiraiya meets the kids.


	3. Chapter 3: The Future

Chapter 3: The Future

 

Jiraiya decided he should stop expecting things, because each time he walked into a room with a clear image in his head the reality was nothing like that at all.

When Rogu opened the doors, Jiraiya was so sure he would walk into a room with dim lights, wide and empty, probably with a podium of some sorts by the wall or even in the middle, with a very pretentious throne. Is other guess was a lab of some sort - a dungeon just like in Konoha, with chains hanging off the walls and metal tables carved in a way that helped get rid of the fluids and-

There were tiles on the floor, white or maybe light blue - it was hard to tell in the strong, electric light that mercilessly shone upon the room and was reflected by the tiles, making everything even brighter.

Compared to the corridor before, the room was blinding. Jiraiya winced. It took a lot of strength of will to not cover his eyes immediately after entering, but… if there was an ambush after all, he wanted at the very least be able to see from which side.

There was no ambush. Instead, the room was filled with a whole lot of kids that looked like they were about to hit the puberty and become an absolute nightmare to whoever was responsible for them. They were comfortably seated on a colorful mess of pillows unceremoniously dumped on the ground, their attention focused on a wide sheet of paper covered in complicated swirls of senjutsu; the seal looked pretty damn similar to one above the door frame, only here it was much bigger in size, painted in various set of colors. Orochimaru - it could only be him, that chalk-white skin was dead give away - was standing over the seal using a laser pointer to explain one of the details.

Well, he was doing that until the doors creaked open, letting the slightly cooler air slip into the room, almost chilling to the naked skin.

Eerily slowly - or maybe it was just Jiraiya brain deciding to make the entire world appear to barely move - Orochimaru turned towards them, limbs loose and graceful, long hair shifting along with the movement.

He was wearing loose clothing instead of the shinobi gear Jiraiya was so used to seeing the other man in. At some point the green west seemed to be more like a part of the man rather than just a piece of an uniform, so seeing Orochimaru in anything else - loose, navy blue hakama with fabric sweeping the ground around his sandals, partially covered by equally loose and too long white tunic thrown over a dark shirt. Only the earrings remained, through the vivid color has gone pale with age.

Jiraiya looked at Orochimaru up and down and then took a second glance, just to be sure.

There were other changes in his  appearance and they were quite obvious.   
Subtle enough to still make look Orochimaru like Orochimaru, but otherwise... everything was much easier on the eyes. His face was rounder, cheekbones much more delicately shaped than Jiraiya remembered, the smile not so disturbingly wide. There was more, the loose clothing not hiding well enough the subtle differences in the shapes.  
His old teammate seemed to even lack the usual malicious aura... or at the very least it was kept securely under wraps.

"Well," Jiraiya said finally. "You sure decided to shake things up a bit."

Orochimaru merely raised an eyebrow, completely unimpressed by this surprised bumbling. Just like what seemed to be ages ago, Jiraiya immediately felt like an idiot, his own body betraying him with sudden heat shooting up his face and sweating hands.  
Damn it, he was not fourteen but over forty!

"Yeah, okay, I'm done with putting foot in my mouth," Jiraiya recognized his defeat. He had more important questions to ask anyway, soul searching for the reason why Orochimaru still was able to make him feel like an idiot could wait. "What's up with the preschool?"

Said preschool protested loudly and rather on the vulgar side. Jiraiya winced.

Such words at this age!

And such boldness, too!   
Even when he couldn't be too obvious with taking the room in, Jiraiya still managed to spot a boy that looked so much like a member of the Nara clan it was almost painful, down to the high ponytail.

Another one looked too much like a Yamanaka for it to be just a coincidence, not to mention a girl that looked like something snatched straight from Kumo, considering her skin color.

Why Orochimaru was showing all this to him? What was his plan and how it the world it was logical enough for Orochimaru to even consider bringing it to life? Sure, thanks to his reputation not many people dared to risk seeking him out, but putting hand on Clan kids from all over the place might just be enough to make people gang up on the Sake Summoner.

"It is quite a long story," Orochimaru smiled, his eyes sparkling with amusement, surely aware just what was going in Jiraiya's head.

Jiraiya shrugged. "Well, since I've wasted so much of it walking all the way here..."

He honestly wasn’t even sure what he was supposed to do now. Stay and investigate further, since Orochimaru felt like being talkative? Grab the kids and try to leg it back to Konoha? Discreetly summon a frog and send it to the Hokage and wait for the back-up?

"What if I was to tell you that there is an actual possibility to travel through time?" Orochimaru asked sweetly.

"I would tell to stop bullshitting me," Jiraiya replied immediately. "There's no such thing."

At least now he knew for sure: his former teammate went batshit insane. That was the only explanation. For this and many things more.

"And how would you know?!" One of the kids barked, waving pointed finger straight at Jiraiya. "You're just some random old guy!"

"Old?!"

"I must agree with the boy, there are many things in this world that still come as a surprise," Orochimaru commented. "Though you had no way of learning about them."

Jiraiya groaned. He really should’ve summon a frog in the middle of the previous night or something. This was pure insanity and he had no other choice but to roll with it for now.

"And how are you going to prove it?" he asked instead.

If, by any chance - and these were so very thin anyway - it was all real, a whole lot of questions were still waiting for the answers and none of the most important ones were anywhere close to the mechanics of time travel. Why now, why him, why reach out, what was expected of him, what, what, what.

Not to mention, his own stupidity.  
Because Jiraiya, despite all the common sense and cynicism of a seasoned war dog, he still hoped and Orochimaru was dangling that hope right in front of his face, playing Jiraiya to do his bidding.

He went all the way here, despite knowing better, despite past sins hanging heavily in the air and on the conscience, wanting and wishing.

"My, you have just talked to one of the proofs," Orochimaru said, then looked at the boy.

"Me?" the kid blinked and pointed a finger at his own chin, visible unsure how to deal with the situation.

"There's a certain jutsu you've learnt," Orochimaru said. "You can hit this random old guy with it, he's quite sturdy."

"He can what?!" Jiraiya yelped.

Orochimaru spoke teenager way to well - and wasn’t that surreal -  because the kid smirked viciously at him.

Then he rushed forward.

Jiraiya waited, unsure what sort of a jutsu a boy who was about to hit puberty learnt that was supposed to be impressive enough to make Jiraiya believe in all this insanity.

Then it happened. Chakra swirled around the boys hand, filling it with light, creating a buzzing sphere. It radiated with power and called upon many of the old wounds. Because the boy had a bright blond hair and his eyes were deep blue, because his jaw had just the right shape and because this jutsu had a name Jiraiya was deeply familiar with.

"Rasengan!"

Jiraiya slipped past by the attack, feeling a pang of anger; he almost let that hit him because of how shocking it was to see the jutsu used after so many years. The spark bursted into an open flame, because this jutsu belonged to Minato and was supposed to be passed on onto his son and nobody, nobody else and here it was, in a hand of some boy that looked the part, with Orochimaru and it all was like one cruel joke-

Jiraiya whirled around and grabbed the boy by the wrist with one hand. The other one grabbed him by the back of his neck.

The boy yelped in surprise, but there was no escape from the iron grip. Rasengan spinned in his grip for a little bit longer, before the sphere slowed down and the light died out with a hiss of the wind.

"How?" Jiraiya asked, his own voice sounding unfamiliar. "When did you learn that, Orochimaru?"

"Me?" The snake sannin raised eyebrows. "Never. Pay attention, Jiraiya. What are you holding is the future."

The boy looked just like Minato. The boy used Minato's jutsu, one that wasn't known to anyone else but Jiraiya. And there were markings on the cheeks, markings that only one living person ever had.

Jiraiya closed his eyes and let go of the brat.

"This is madness."

"It is," Orochimaru agreed. "It's real though. As real as the shadows you are chasing."

Jiraiya tensed.

His old teammate looked like a very satisfied cat now, fully aware that the bait was finally swallowed.

"You know something."

"If you act docile enough, you might just learn what you seek," Orochimaru said and pulled a small, round item from his sleeve.

It sparkled in the air and Jiraiya caught it instinctively, half-expecting it to be some sort of a new weapon that would be filled to the brim with poison and whatever else was on hand.  
Instead, it was a ring with a dim green jewel in the middle marked with a single kanji symbol.

"Trophie," Orochimaru said as if it was explaining everything.

And it actually did. Jiraiya connected the dots and hoped that whatever his former teammate wanted it was something reasonable. Because Jiraiya had no other choice but to play by his rules if it really was what it seemed to be.

"Who are you anyway?" the blondie demanded, rubbing the back of his neck. There was a bright red hand-print there and another one around his wrist. He put a bit too much strength behind the grip that it was needed, but he doubted that it would leave bruises.

"You don't know who I am?" Jiraiya blinked in confusion.

"Some old weirdo?" the kid shrugged. "Though you must be somewhat important if we wasted all the time on you."

Jiraiya felt as the corner of his eye twitched in annoyance. This brat was insufferable and it was a wonder he was even still alive if he acted the same towards Orochimaru. His teammate always was the one who liked to solve his problems with murder.

"Well then," he said, smirking at the brat. "Let me introduce yourself!"

Dropping into a familiar, well practiced stance instantly calmed him down, bringing down the balance and the feeling of having everything under control. The rhythmic sound of gata hitting the tiles announced the rising anticipation, his arms opened wide in a familiar motion, body shifted into a pose widely known from the art , making him look like a legend incarnated.

“Behold! For I'm the Mighty Jiraiya, Great Sage of Mount Myoboku, one of the Three Sannin of Konoha!”

His voice was strong; Jiraiya was always proud of all these things, despite everything. Even travelling the world and coming back home for just a few hours short visits, he was still serving Konoha, still a shinobi of Konoha. He had made countless mistakes, yet these were just a journey to greatness, together building the tale of a hero.

Jiraiya exhaled with satisfaction, his own voice still ringing in his ears and decided it was time to take a peek, estimate how much of an impression he made this time.

(It usually was a great one, his reputation widely known among the people of not only Konoha, but the Elemental Nations. And children, ah children did love to meet heroes they've learned about in school and heard from their parents)

There was a familiar sour face, though it was Rogu wearing it, not Orochimaru. His old teammate was covering his mouth with one hand as if trying to hide his expression, but the raised eyebrows were betraying him.

Odd, Jiraiya decided.

Well, Rogu was one of these people with stick up their posterior when it came to things like that, so Jiraiya expected him to react just like his parent usually did. The odd thing was, said parent instead of looking like Jiraiya's mere presence was offending looked more like he was about to lose his shit. For whatever reason.

"You look like a dork," the Yamanaka look-alike stated and some other kids made noises of agreement.

“Hey!” Jiraiya protested, because this treatment was totally not what was supposed to happen. His face all of sudden felt too hot and too much hair slipped out of the ponytail and now was getting into his eyes, forcing him to squint.

Orochimaru, the bastard, looked even more baffled than before, as if he was barely able to keep himself in check and not burst into laughter here and now.

The Orochimaru Jiraiya knew smirked a lot and there was much of sneer and sarcasm coming from him too, but this? This was new. And whatever it was, Jiraiya hoped there would be much more things like that. Well, preferably not when Orochimaru was laughing at him… however he could live with that too.

"I don't know," some else kid stated. "I think this was an interesting strategy to distract your opponent."

The sudden change of face expression of both Orochimaru and Rogu was hilariously quick. So sour, like someone dumped them right in the pile of lemons. So similar too, they really looked like blood relatives now.

Jiraiya eyed the brat that caused such reaction and curious, golden eyes stared right back at him.  
That explained pretty much everything. The kid looked like a mini-version of Rogu, to the point it was mildly disturbing.

Ooh, Jiraiya thought. Ooh.

"Mitsuki, no" the blondie decided to bug in and try to pull away his friend. "I'm pretty sure this guy just watched the Kagemasa movies too many times."

"I don't think the idea behind it was developed yet," Mitsuki stated, smile still not leaving his face or even making a step despite being dragged away. It was like he glued himself to the floor with chakra.  
Those curious, yellow eyes turned for a moment towards his friend with open fondness clear to see, before his attention was back to Jiraiya.

Ugh, Jiraiya thought. The kid was… intense in a way he never meet before. It was off-putting, especially since he knew where that sort of intense attention was inherited from.

"Well, then he was reading too many books, whatever!" Blondie shrugged, totally not minding how socially awkward his friend sounded like.

"Oh," Mitsuki nodded in understanding and closed his eyes in another shape of smile. It was... adorable. The expression brightened his face and made the sharp eyes look much more gentle and warm.

Just how this kid had the same blood that the two grumps on the other side of the room?

"Now, since we should be done with proving things to be true, we should relocate to talk about details," Orochimaru stated, looking straight at him, head slightly tilted to the side in question.

Jiraiya nodded, warm feelings washed away by the sense of necessity and tension.

"Hey, wait a minute!" blondie protested. "We are already here, why we can't talk here?"

"Kid, I appreciate the enthusiasm, but-" Jiraiya started. It was nice to see such enthusiasm in young people, but there were things children were not supposed to know about. There were even things adults were not supposed to learn about and this was what they were going to talk about now. Not to mention all the red tape the genin and pre-genin were supposed to not even being aware of, purely for the security measures.

"No!" blondie immediately protested and others joined in. "We are here and we can't just sit on our butts the whole time! Not when-when-!"

"Well, we clearly will not be able to do anything if all of you keep talking at once," Orochimaru stated coldly. "Chose representatives that would be able to bring something to the conversation. You have ten minutes. You know where to find me."

Jiraiya stared, mouth agape, too surprised by this whole situation to do anything. Luckily, Orochimaru wasn't walking very fast, otherwise Jiraiya would end up jogging after him and probably getting hopelessly lost in this place.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I told you it would take much less time with this chapter!
> 
> Though I'm not sure about the next, I'm pretty much working two jobs with school on top of that X)) July should mark the end of this hell, through I'll try to squeeze out some time and energy to update now and then. just, well, be warned.


	4. Chapter 4: When The World Shifts

Chapter 4: When the World Shifts

 

Sarada wasn't sure what she was expecting when she closed her eyes shut and tensed in anticipation. It could be an earthquake or a storm exploding right next to her or maybe a tornado suddenly appearing to steal them away. Something big, something that would shake her to the core.

A minute passed and then another one and Sarada felt like she was making a fool of herself.

Carefully, she opened one eye to steal a peak, ready to shut it back instantly.  
There was... nothing. Nothing moving around her, no odd shapes or lights twisting and turning. It simply wasn't the same place as the one Sarada was in when she closed her eyes.

"What is this...?" Sarada muttered, slowly standing up and trying to take in the surroundings.

They were in some sort of a spacious cave... or rather, a room. Caves didn't come with walls so straight, with pattern covering the sides and floor looking like that; more like someone was trying to create a seal-like pattern and went way overboard.  
It certainly had an aura of a cave, though; the air was cold and smelled in that specific wet way the caves usually did. Confused voices of her classmates seemed to be bouncing off the walls, creating an odd echo.

Underground, she decided. Her theory was supported by the fact that there were no windows and the room was dim, despite the lights on the ceiling, coming to life just few seconds after their arrival with a buzz of electricity.

"One of the old hideouts I presume?" Mitsuki's brother voice came from the side. Sarada still wasn’t used to the fact that Mitsuki was Orochimaru’s kid and wrapping her mind around the fact that he also had an older brother was… difficult. Very, very difficult even with Rogu unapologetically existing right before her eyes.

He was kneeling by the Snake Sannin, armor looking much darker in this dim light. As much out of place she felt here, as much he looked just right, like it was the place he truly belonged to. Ironic, considering all of them were time-travelers.

Sarada furrowed her brow. Orochimaru was also on knees - which was pretty damn surreal on it's own - and had their forehead resting against the heavily armored shoulder of Rogu. It looked almost like the Sannin would faceplant right into the patterned floor if not for him.  
The whole thing was supposed to be taxing, which was one of the reasons why Orochimaru was one of the only two people even capable of completing the jutsu that send them here, but still. The Snake Sannin always seemed to be untouchable.

(Everything was untouchable once, like the stone faces carved into the mountain towering over Konoha. Then it crashed and burned, turned into dust and rubble. No reason for a living legend to not share the same fate)

"It is," came the soft rasp of Orochimaru's voice. "One abandoned years ago, which makes it perfect for you to hide for awhile."

Rogu nodded and opened his mouth to say something, but he didn't manage to do so.

"Hide?!" Boruto's voice cut the words before they even were spoken. "We are not here to hide! We're here to make things better!"

He was already up and pointing fingers, full of energy and making Sarada jealous because of that. She felt like anything but standing up.  
Then again, life wasn’t about what she wanted, so Sarada pushed herself off the ground, looking around, counting the familiar faces with unfamiliar, tired and scared expressions.

"And how exactly are you planning to do so?" Rogu responded coldly. "Go out there and tell people that the end of the world is coming?"

"Don't make fun of me!"

"Then stop coming up with such ridiculous ideas."

Boruto made a furious noise and some of the others looked like they were about to agree with him.

Sarada felt like agreeing too. It was infuriating, how little they could do back home. It's even more frustrating to have an option to do something here taken away just like that. However, she couldn’t argue with logic and plain old common sense.

"I agree with him," she said. "We can't just go out there and tell people that there will be an invasion of people that can eat ninjutsu."

Said people coming from outer space, just to make the whole thing more ridiculous. And before that... The Ten-Tailed Beast, Undead army and the goddess sealed inside of the moon? It would make them sound mad.

"Sarada!" Boruto protested.

"Look," she sighed. "From their point of view, we came out of nowhere, know something we shouldn't and talk about things that are by all means impossible. Nobody is going to listen."

"They would probably take all the clan kids and kill the rest," Inojin added, looking over the group with his cold blue eyes. "Will call it a case of gene stealing and that would be it."

"Gene stealing?" she blinked. There was something very dark about that, even now, where she could feel the answer at the tips of her finger, but not really knowing what it was. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to know either.  
The more secrets from the past creeped out from the dark corners, the more certain she was that the adults made the right choice trying to erase as much of it from history as it was possible.

"You know, when the certain Blood Limits shows up in a wrong village for mysterious reasons?" the boy snickered. "For that to happen you either have to steal a baby, or do some other baby-related things.”

Sarada felt as her muscles stiffened and veins filled with ice as the realization creeped into her mind.  
Everyone cared about bloodlines, about inheriting rare and unusual abilities, everyone cared about power. Even in their peaceful times, there were dangers. And here, now? In times their parents grew up, the times they refused to speak about?  
Even in books, so much was carefully, methodically redacted.

"Exactly," Rogu snickered. "And since somebody here has a certain reputation, we all will be treated like enemy spies, A-rank at the very least."

"We can't just sit here and do nothing!" Boruto protested. "We can fight!"

"Oh?" Orochimaru asked with amusement, slowly straightening up and somehow managing to not look like face planting into the floor anymore. His eyes were reflecting much more light than it seemed to be natural and the purple markings on his eyelids were making them look even more bright.

"Care to prove it?" the Sannin asked, brushing their hair aside.

"Bring it!" Boruto dared, already pumped up for action, the suicide idiot.

Sarada fought off the sudden need for a sour grimace. That dork was dragging them all into the world of pain, but she was a kunoichi and she will accept her fate with grace. That and she also wanted out of this place.

"All you need to do is to land a single hit on me," Orochimaru said, spreading arms in an inviting gesture.

"Me... fighting you?"

"Oh, no, you misunderstood," Orochimaru smiled and their yellow eyes sparkled with amusement. "All of you. We want to give you somewhat of a chance, yes?"

Boruto gasped and Sarada did just the same, not sure if from the sheer excitement of having this one chance or  from the sheer fear of what was about to happen.

Any normal person would not be able to stand after performing such taxing jutsu as this one. The sheer chakra and control necessary to pull it off were just one of the aspects of the whole thing. There were many others, more physical aspects of performing the seemingly impossible.  
A drop of sweat traveled down Boruto's face as the boy swallowed loudly. It seemed that at the very least he managed to understand just what he managed to walk into.

Guts, he definitely had in spare, Sarada was forced to admit as her teammate forced a smile to appear and clapped his hands.

"Alright!" he shouted. "I'll go all out! You guys with me?!"

There was a second of heavy silence.

Then Mitsuki smiled warmly and moved to stand right next to Boruto.

"I'm with you if that's okay," he declared. He waited, eyeing his parent for a moment, but there was no protest of any sort, so Mitsuki’s grin widened.

"Eh, what the heck," Shikadai shrugged and walked forward.

"Don't you even think of leaving me behind!" Sarada declared, despite the fact that her mouth felt dry as a desert and she wanted to do anything but facing a legend.

Others joined them, one after another, putting on fake smiles and false bravado.  
It was crazy, because it was one of the Sannin, the most dangerous one, the one even her dad looked at with wary eyes and they were just genin, green behind their ears and with little to no battle experience.  
This… this was not going to be like a fight against one of their teachers, with huge leeway and one chance after another to correct mistakes.

The smile on Orochimaru's face only widened as they jumped forward.

Shikadai tossed a smoke bomb and Boruto ran right into the explosion, using the dust as a cover. Inojin also rushed forward, brush moving lightning-fast on the scroll spreading in his trail.

"Support!" Metal declared, spreading shurikens between his fingers.

"With you!" Sarada finally managed to snap out of her paralysis. "Sumire?"

"C-coming!" despite the stuttering, the girl looked much more determined that even before.

The ground shook.

"Don't you guys forget about me!" Iwabe shouted.

Right when four clones of Boruto erupted through smoke, painted creation swarmed Orochimaru in a whirl of sharp fangs and talons.  
They were avoided with ease just to explode and spray paint around. One of the clones was hit right in the eyes and stopped in its track.  
It was enough to break a formation and give the sannin an easy way out...  
If there was even a need for an escape route.

Orochimaru effortlessly walked among the projectiles, clones and creations alike.

"Crap!" Boruto shouted, suddenly launched backward with enough force to send him flying right at Denki.

"Watch it!" Chouchou barked, catching him in her enlarged palm before he smashed into the other boy.

Damn, Sarada thought, tossing her own kunai into the chaos.  
They needed a plan and they needed it badly. Using just the basics and filling the room with rain of projectiles was not going to make it. But to come up with a plan right now? They needed time and a distraction for when they will share it...  
Sarada grit her teeth. She hated her life, she hated Boruto and was going to punch that idiot so much. So much.

"I'm going in," she declared. "Iwabe, Mitsuki, you guys with me?"

"Let's rock this dump!" Iwabe grinned widely at her. "You go girl!"

Sarada rushed forward and the ground shook in her wake. By her side, Mitsuki was running, smiling as always, warm as always.  
Boruto, impossible to get rid off, joined them on her other side.

The earthquake brushed past them and cracked and shook the ground the sannin was standing on. All Orochimaru did was to chuckle at their effort, walking on the surface of breaking and twisting ground as if it was the easiest thing to do.

Mitsuki moved his fingers lightning-fast, going through seals like he was already a well experienced jonin and a wave of concentrated chakra erupted from his mouth.  
On the opposite side of the cave Sumire repeated the motions, but used the final seal as a gunpoint and humidity in the air to her advantage, sending one water bullet after another in Orochimaru’s direction.

It all missed, or rather Orochimaru moved next to it with inhuman grace, brushing hair aside so it wouldn’t get caught in the splash of water that followed.  
The air shone like someone threw a whole bucket of glitter at the ceiling and it was of as much of use to them.

Sarada grit her teeth.

If any of this was even going to work - and Mitsuki and Sumire didn’t have enough chakra to continue like this too long - they needed a distraction.  
Hating every step, Sarada rushed forward and then jumped, using her entire body mass along with chakra to put as much force behind her punch as it was possible.

Orochimaru stepped aside, letting her crash into the ground. Sarada bounced right back up, kicking blindly in her opponent direction and rolling to the side immediately after just to jump once again.

Orochimaru chuckled, letting all her of her hits almost brush skin, eyes sparkling in amusement, relishing in her anger. But.  
But Sarada got the attention all to herself and this was exactly the plan!  
Now she only had to occupy Orochimaru enough to let someone get a lucky shot and for that, she needed everything she had.

The chakra rushing to her eyes felt like burning and then she could see-

“I will share a little secret with you, little Uchiha.”

Sarada shuddered, because Orochimaru was right next to her before she even managed to comprehend the blur of white and black her Sharingan was showing her.

“It is not going to work if you can’t move fast enough to respond to what you can see,” Orochimaru whispered softly.

Sarada grabbed a kunai and twisted her whole body, stabbing where she could feel presence of her opponent. Instead of the blade meeting flesh, she felt fingers jabbing the inside of her forearm. Sharp pain erupted suddenly and her fingers shook uncontrollably. The handle of the kunai almost slipped out, but Sarada grabbed it with her other hand.

Instantly, she made a wide, blind jab, because her opponent was right there and the only way to avoid being stabbed would be letting go of her hand.  
Sarada jumped away and dropped on the ground, right on time to avoid a high kick and rolled over, trying to get as much distance between herself and Orochimaru as it was possible.

Even several feel away, she was still wary, remembering all too well what Mitsuki could do with his hands - he learned that trick from someone after all.  
Sarada quickly ran through the seals, the kunai hanging off her finger by the loop and then she tossed the weapon, releasing the jutsu.   
Illusory kunai flew at the same time her own weapon was released into the air, straight at Orochimaru.

It was just the E rank clone jutsu with henge added to mix it up and she doubted that it would do much.  
But all she needed was a split of a second and the survival instinct would do that for her - nobody wanted to throw themselves at a blade, so even knowing that most of the knives were just an illusory trick-

Orochimaru caught the real kunai with ease and smiled at her.

"Damn," Sarada grit her teeth. "Should've used an explosive tag!"

With any luck it wouldn't bring the ceiling on her head...

"And that would be the end of it," Orochimaru suddenly said, voice almost sing-song like.

"Wha-" Boruto gasped. And then he stopped dead.

Just like the rest of them.

Sarada had just the same question, but then the world turned and twisted, suddenly dark and freezing cold, with a gravity that seemed to be crushing and in the very center of it there was a pair of eyes. Golden and wide open, with thin needles of pupils, staring straight at her soul, filling it with fear and promises that something worse that death was coming.

She needed to escape, she needed to move, run away, stab herself, do something, anything! Her muscles were not working, her mind suddenly sluggishly slow to the point she couldn't even comprehend what was going on and the world around her waved and whirled, charcoal black and twisted beyond recognition.

“This is killing intent,” soft, raspy voice seemed to be coming from every direction; far away and right next to her ear, so close Sarada could almost feel the breath on her skin.

“You've never before felt anything like it, am I right?” Orochimaru continued. “In such peaceful times, there was no need for feeling like this.”

The hunger, the overwhelming need, the bloodlust so intense, Sarada was shaking just because it existed. It was dark, it was insane, it was the worst nightmare turned into reality.

Sarada swallowed a sob.

“Here and now however, even feeling are militarized,” the soft, soft voice was oddly charming, like gaze of a serpent. “You poor children might know how to walk on water or spit a jutsu or two, but this? This is over your heads.”

“How…” Sarada started, but her voice broke and it sounded more like raspy intake of a breath than anything. “ How do we fight it?”

Orochimaru chuckled, sweet and sinister, overwhelming like a storm.

“You simply need to want to kill me more.”

Sarada laughed too, because this, this was insane, this was impossible, this was why the history of the world was buried deep and never talked about.  
How much, Sarada wondered. How much spilled blood was hidden behind the red tape and the redacted books, how many people were brushing against the borders of pure madness?

The oppressive, overwhelming feeling slowly lessened, letting Sarada drop on the floor like a puppet that suddenly had all of its strings cut.  
Dark spots were dancing before her eyes and her mouth tasted like bile.

Sarada closed her eyes and  forced herself to concentrate on breathing, on counting the seconds between every intake up until her heart finally didn't feel like it was about to jump out of her chest.

“Well, it looks like we lost!” Mitsuki stated cheerfully, like he brushed off what had happened moment before.

“Were you expecting any other outcome?” Inojin tried to chuckle. He was out of breath and his voice was stained, the words coming out with noticeable effort.

“Not really,” Mitsuki admitted. “My parent is very strong.”

“Then why did you agreed to this?!” ChoCho whined. “You're insane or something?”

“I was curious,” he replied with a small shrug.

Curious, Sarada thought, slowly pushing herself off the ground. Her teammates was definitely insane, but he was also right. This was an experience they desperately needed, because now they were part of this horrific world too.

Better now, Sarada continued to reassure herself, where the only real danger was barfing all over the floor, than on the battlefield, with a real enemy who was going to do much more than just flashing his killing intent.

Still, the complete defeat left her bitter and unhappy and she wasn't the only one.

"That's cheating!" Boruto and Iwabe protested together already up and re-energized. Sarada was almost jealous, because she felt completely wiped. Almost, because screaming at someone who was able to beat their entire group with a single glare was a pretty damn stupid idea.

"Is it?" Inojin raised an eyebrow at them. "It's not like we talked over the rules before it started."

"You work surprisingly well together, I admit," Orochimaru said, smile never gone from his face. "Though it's not enough, not when you can face an enemy who's not only familiar with spilling blood but learned to enjoy it."

Sarada bit her lip.

True, she came to the same conclusion while still on the floor and desperately trying not to  vomit. They were the first generation since forever that wasn't born during the time of some sort of a conflict. They were the first generation of children that actually were children and were trained to toss pointy items at targets mostly because the adults had no clue what else was there to teach them.  
Then, there were the aliens. An enemy from so far away it was impossible to fight with them on their territory.

They've walked right into a trap purely because they were not used to look for them in the first place.  
And this world? These times? It was one huge bear-trap riddled with thousands of smaller ones, an era their parents desperately wanted to push as far away as it was possible.

"We lost before the fight even started?" Mitsuki tilted his head to the side. "It seems logical."

"So, kids are staying," Rogu said with a small shrug. "As if there was any other option."

"Yes," Orochimaru said, looking intensively at his eldest son. "The children are staying. Or rather following you to the northern base."

Rogu's eyes widened.

"You have to be shitting me!" he protested.

"Children are going north with you," Orochimaru repeated, this time slower, more viciously.

The air suddenly felt much, much heavier and Sarada found it hard to breathe.

"And what are you going to do?" Rogu asked, completely ignoring the killing intent hanging in the air. "Especially now? Glorified suicide?"

That made Orochimaru chuckle a bit.

"Something of the sort, I guess," the sannin admitted. "Which is why I prefer to deal with the issue without having to keep an eye on anyone else."

"You sure?"

"It's not going to be that difficult," Orochimaru replied.

Rogu didn't look so certain but apparently the discussion was over anyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back to the beginning, at least sort of.
> 
> I really wanted to show just how huge is the difference between Orochimaru and the kids.
> 
> Also, some hints at just how disturbing the things were just a generation before the kids were born.

**Author's Note:**

> Another time travel. What a surprise this is... not. 
> 
> I just have that weird need to have the new gen kids, Orochimaru and Jiraiya in the same fic. I also like confronting people with either weird situations or forcing them to pick paths they wouldn't in any different circumstances.


End file.
